Hello,
So I am weighing the options of accepting a lab manager position or *attempting* to land a post-bacc research fellowship. The latter would be much more competitive, but also much more substantive and involved (from my impression).
Specifically, I am looking to Yale's ESI-Prep, Columbia's Bridge to PhD, and MIT's BBS Post-Bacc Research Scholar Program in Neuroscience. The manager position is at a well-known school.
I would say statistically/on-paper I am a competitive applicant (strong GPA, good letters of recc., some research experiences). These programs *appear* to serve communities for which I am not a part of (namely, Black and Latinx students; I am Vietnamese American); though I am first-gen, low-income, and the Asian demographic has very varied educational attainment outcomes depending on ethnicity (Vietnamese/SE Asian being among the lowest among Asians, and lower than White).
I am looking for advice whether it's worth to try to my hand at these fellowships and reject the manager position offer (I would apply to other lab manager positions that may have a later timeline that allow me to hear back from these post-bacc programs). Or perhaps advice in how to frame wanting BOTH accept the position, and apply to these post-bacc research fellowships--Is this asking to have a cake and eat it too?
Wanting to hear any opinions/or advice. Thanks :)